On the subject of DS9, I quite enjoyed the recent story arc of the online game, which was centered on DS9 elements. I was like half-laughing that one of the missions was basically Quark leading a Ferengi black ops.

That said, I was a little dissapointed that among the few characters that didn't return was Chief O'Brien.

The characters generally bond IN the battlefield, rather than outside of it (well, they bond outside too based on scripted narrative, but still).

Man, every minor character is sufficiently developed since the first time you meet them that it really fucking pains you when they die and it's your fault that they died, not the story's.

Yeah, your fault. The story doesn't decide which character lives or dies, your own competence does. And when they die, it fills you with grief that, despite being their leader, you failed to protect them.

No other game has made me feel this way before!

Joshua, from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, might just end up being one of my most favorite characters in fiction. He reminds me a lot of Setzer Gabianni from Final Fantasy 6, and yet being unique enough to make him stand out.

What I also love about this game is the fact that characters come in "pairs", not necessarily romantically (well, sometimes), and often with platonic relationships -- such as father and son, princess and bodyguard, knight and squire, brother and sister, etc. which makes for some really interesting character development for a large cast of characters that FE usually has.

Not only that, but those characters can also find themselves paired with OTHER characters outside the pair to have some really unique interactions.

It's up to you, not the story, to recruit some pretty cool additions to your army! Because some of the potential recruits can actually start off as enemies trying to kill you, and unless you pay attention to the story and strategize accordingly, they might not even join you, and instead either kill you or die trying!

Yeah, dude! Welcome to the world of Fire Emblem! It's a super fun series. I got into with Awakening and got hooked; went back to play some of the older games and have been playing the newer ones.

Just wait until you get to Awakening! It's probably my favorite, although it was also the first one I played, so I may be a bit biased. It has a pretty strong romance pairing and offspring element (carried over into the new games) that added another level of fun relationship characterization.

Ah yes, Fire Emblem. A good strategy RPG series overall. Though as of late, it's a very divisive subject, considering you can divide the series into "eras", so to speak. And all have its fans and haters. Doesn't help that some things are objectively good or bad. Anyway...

Recently it got a new game announced. Too bad that, being for the Switch, it's currently out of my reach. Well, who knows what the future will bring...

Yeah, I've heard how Awakening was supposed to be the last game in the series before Nintendo pulled the plug, so the devs who spent their lives on it put their hearts and souls into this one game, which would inevitably prove to be the first smash hit in a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if people loved it so much!

Yeah, I've heard how Awakening was supposed to be the last game in the series before Nintendo pulled the plug, so the devs who spent their lives on it put their hearts and souls into this one game, which would inevitably prove to be the first smash hit in a long time. I wouldn't be surprised if people loved it so much!

Recently it got a new game announced. Too bad that, being for the Switch, it's currently out of my reach. Well, who knows what the future will bring...

You mean, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, right? I really love how it looks! Looks like they'll be finally ditching the sprite-based world-map, and going full 3D with it.

True, Awakening was a huge succes and saved the series... but many would agree it was a double-edge sword. One just has to look at how divided opinions are about Fire Emblem Fates for that... and some of what Awakening itself got.

Well, they have already ditched sprites before, with Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (Gamecube and Wii, respectively). This would be a return to full 3D, true. Personally, I'm intrigued by the use of squads instead of individual units. Some people already theorize it might change stuff like the sort of playable characters we might get and stuff.

I love that feeling of pride you have when you're really happy with the end product of something you create.

Not to toot my own horn, but I finished a writing project tonight that has been giving me hell for the past several years.

I have been writing screenplays off an on for the past decade or so, both to develop my craft and eventually build a portfolio. I've had a particularly troubling concept that takes place in medieval Japan, but certain story elements have evaded me and work on it has been touch and go for several years.

Anyway, I finally finished the first draft of part one tonight!

Congratulations! That's a big accomplishment! I remember finishing my first book in 2015--like, all the way done, slap a cover on it, put it up for sale--and thinking to myself, "Hey, I'm a published author now!" If I'm honest, it didn't feel glorious as the dream had promised...but it was still fuckin' rad.

The characters generally bond IN the battlefield, rather than outside of it (well, they bond outside too based on scripted narrative, but still).

I came to Fire Emblem: Awakening a couple years ago (and I see it got some discussion below your comment) and really loved it. I love how the characters bond in battle, like you say, and I absolutely loved the female avatar, who--in my version--was humble and really down-to-Earth. "Hey, you guys need a tactician?" Despite the added game-over risk of doing so, I kept her in battle formations throughout the game.

I've been bouncing back and forth between anime and 1990's/early 2000's science fiction, and I decided to start watching Andromeda. I watched the first three seasons off and on when they aired, so it will be nice to watch it from front to back.

A few things:-First season hasn't been as good as I remember... but I feel like that's par for the course when it comes to most television series. Farscape, one of my absolute favorites from this era, also had a pretty lackluster first half of the season.-I listened to the theme songs from each season, and I actually think the weird, guitar-driven season 1 theme song is better than all the other "Star Trek"-ian fanfare pieces that follow.-Lexa Doig... Woo boy. She did things for teenage Boo and she's still got it.-Parts of it, even the sets, heavily remind me of Mass Effect. I'm sure it's not intentional, but just an observation.-Hard to believe the most excellent Firefly was around the same time as this (within 2 years). Firefly is in such a league of itself.

I've never understood all the love Firefly gets. To me, it was just a solid "okay." I'd love to know what everybody else saw that I obviously missed.

I personally loved the show! Though going back to re-watch it hasn't yielded the same experience as the first time I saw it. I think it's success has a lot to do with when it came out. We were in a bit of a Sci-Fi slump, there hadn't been a Star Trek (or otherwise notable space show, apart from Star Gate) on TV for a few years. Then along came Firefly with a charming cast, and a relatively new take on the ol' Space Pirate formula. It was well produced and had a decent budget.

All in all I think it's a solid show, it's pretty rare to find a solid Sci-Fi, let alone one on main stream television with some relatively well known actors. I think it deserves a lot of the praise it gets, though I wouldn't go as far to say it's the best Sci-Fi ever as some of the fans do...

I watched all of Andromeda a few years back. Season 4 was hit or miss. Season 5 was terrible.

I wouldn't mind discussing it with you when you're done.

Hahaha... Somehow I knew you'd have watched it. Either we are both 1980's babies or we have similar tastes. First B5, now Andromeda!

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I've never understood all the love Firefly gets. To me, it was just a solid "okay." I'd love to know what everybody else saw that I obviously missed.

I missed it on original air and didn't see it until 2010, and I loved it. I am a sucker for genre benders / genre mixes... and the whole post-Civil War Western meets sci-fi shtick worked for me. I loved the characters (I still break out into "The Man They Called Jayne") on the regular.

I guess for me, granted that it's 16 years old, it was stellar at the time. Back then I feel like the bar for science fiction was pretty low in regard to allocated budgets and mainstream success. Shows like Battlestar Galactica then helped raise that bar and allowed for other shows with higher budgets (although we haven't felt that re-invigoration until the past few years, or at least it feels that way).

I dunno, I liked it for a lot of reasons. Great characters, a fun universe with good lore, etc.

Hahaha... Somehow I knew you'd have watched it. Either we are both 1980's babies or we have similar tastes. First B5, now Andromeda!

A little of column a, a little of column b maybe? I'm from '85. I caught a bit of Andromeda back when it was on, but it was that Saturday afternoon block I always forgot to watch. Earth Final Conflict, Andromeda, Deep Space 9, and a bunch of others aired around then.